Hasta La Gadget!

Custom ROM fans will know AOKP (Android Open Kang Project), but the first build derived from Jelly Bean was knowingly rough around the edges. What a difference a month makes: along with the usual round of bug fixes, the team’s second build has added options to force screen rotation and the tablet interface on any device. Not-quite-so-early adopters also get fine-grained control over the interface DPI, LEDs, theming and vibration, and the device list has grown to include the Verizon Galaxy S III, the Galaxy Note and multiple variants of both the original Galaxy S and the Galaxy Tab family. If you were waiting to stay just short of the bleeding edge before trying AOKP, your version is ready.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile

AOKP team posts giant update to its Jelly Bean build, allows rotation and tablet UI anywhere originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 01:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung may have lost a billion dollar round here in the US, but it appears to have scored a victory in its patent battle against Apple in Japan today. Reuters and Bloomberg report a judge there decided its Galaxy smartphones and tablets did not infringe on an Apple patent. Apple sued Samsung there in September of last year, however the Tokyo District Court has ruled Samsung did not violate a patent that covered syncing music and video data with a PC. According to The Yomiuri Shinbun, presiding judge Tamotsu Shoji dismissed the claim, saying Samsung’s implementation of this specific technology was not covered by the scope of Apple’s patent and, Bloomberg reports, ordered Apple to pay the costs of the lawsuit. Just as we’re seeing in US District Court in California however, one judgement doesn’t mean the seemingly never-ending battle is over however because Apple may be able to appeal this decision to a higher court. There are also other cases ongoing, which The Sankei Shimbun reports includes one focusing on the infamous bounce-back patent, so as usual, stay tuned for further updates.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile

Japan court rules Samsung’s Galaxy phones, tablet do not infringe on an Apple patent originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 00:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the first of what may very well be a long line of “amended” verdict forms in the Apple vs Samsung case here in the USA, a full list of damages has been displayed with each of the smartphones and tablets at hand listed aside their amount. Samsung has been quite vocal thus far on how little they agree with the charges, of course, and this first amended list will certainly be strengthening their case for the entire trial to be re-thought. This set of changes sits aside comments over the weekend by the jury that have led the public to wonder how solid their deliberations were as well.

Some of the un-changed rulings sit in this document as well, including the ruling that said Apple was unable to keep their “trade dress” for the iPhone and iPad, but that the iPhone 3GS trade dress would stand. This ruling allows Apple to continue to seek damages against manufacturers that create smartphones with a look that’s significantly similar to the shape of the iPhone 3GS. It also sets a prescient for Apple’s next devices in the iPhone 5 and possible iPad mini / iPad Air of the future. As for damages changed in this ruling, they are as follows (in $ USD):

Captivate . . . . . . . . . .80,840,162

Continuum . . . . . . . . . .16,399,117

Droid Charge. . . . . . . . .50,672,869

Epic 4G. . . . . . . . . . .130,180,894

Exhibit 4G . . . . . . . . . .1,081,820

Fascinate. . . . . . . . . .143,539,179

Galaxy Ace . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0

Galaxy Prevail. . . . . . . .57,867,383

Galaxy S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0

Galaxy S 4G . . . . . . . . .73,344,668

Galaxy S II (AT&T). . . . . .40,494,356

Galaxy S II (i9000). . . . . . . . . .0

Galaxy S II (T-Mobile). . . .83,791,708

Galaxy S II (Epic 4G Touch).100,326,988

Galaxy S II (Skyrocket) . . .32,273,558

Galaxy S (Showcase) . . . . .22,002,146

Galaxy Tab . . . . . . . . . .1,966,691

Galaxy Tab 10.1 WiFi . . . . . .833,076

Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE . . . . . . . .0

Gem. . . . . . . . . . . . . .4,075,585

Indulge . . . . . . . . . . .16,011,184

Infuse 4G . . . . . . . . . .44,792,974

Intercept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0

Mesmerize . . . . . . . . . .53,123,612

Nexus S 4G . . . . . . . . . .1,828,297

Replenish. . . . . . . . . . .3,350,256

Transform. . . . . . . . . . . .953,060

Vibrant . . . . . . . . . . .89,673,957

Several of these devices were originally costing Samsung quite a bit more than zero – not a mistake that Samsung is taking lightly. Check out the full first amended verdict form here in PDF format. Per Groklaw, there’ve been some comments from the jury that the following was true once the first ruling was found to be incorrect:

The jury appears to have awarded damages for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 LTE infringing — $219,694 worth — but didn’t find that it had actually infringed anything….A similar inconsistency exists for the Intercept, for which they’d awarded Apple over $2 million.

Intercept: “The jury found no direct infringement but did find inducement” for the ’915 and ’163 utility patents. If a device didn’t infringe, it would be rather hard for a company to induce said non-existant infringement.

These quotes are also listed on live coverage of the reading of the events from The Verge who sat in on the trial. Stay tuned to our coverage of the trial as it continues on well past the reading of the verdict. Expect Samsung and Apple to stay at war for months to come, and for the results of this trial to be quite long-lasting as well!

Apple vs Samsung Amended verdict form released is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

So you are out looking for a new tablet device, but cannot really quite make up your mind? Well, you have basically two choices – one that hails from the fruity company known as Apple and runs on the iOS platform, making it the best selling tablet to date, while the other would be one that runs off the Android operating system from Google, and it comes in a myriad of form factors as well as manufacturers. Well, Samsung is back with yet another Android powered tablet, where it is known as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 that targets students, logically calling it the Student Edition Bundle.

This special bundle would include a Keyboard Dock and an USB Adapter, without costing you any more money since it retails for $249.99 instead of the actual retail value of $349.99. This offer is good from tomorrow onwards, and will last for just a couple of weeks. The Special Edition that comes with a Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 in a unique white color should be able to rack up those fingerprints quick and fast.

Students will definitely find their fair share of benefits from the bundle, where it will include a physical keyboard that can be hooked up to the tablet itself, while the USB adapter is able to support plugging in USB thumb drives in addition to peripherals such USB mice. On the software front, you get Polaris Office pre-loaded, making the Galaxy Tab 2 the perfect device for typing research reports – or perhaps, even creating presentations, right there and then on the spot. I do wonder whether this will affect Microsoft’s plan for their Surface tablets that run on Windows 8 as well as Windows RT, depending on the type of processor for that particular Surface tablet.

Travis Merrill, Director of Marketing, Galaxy Tab, Samsung Electronics America, said, “The education market is a significant priority for Samsung, and we are very pleased to deliver a bundle that is sure to be appealing to just about any student at a very competitive price point. A busy student can achieve a PC-like setup in the dorm room, yet still pop the Galaxy Tab 2 out of the dock and slip it into a pocket for usage while on the go. It truly is the smarter way to learn.”

Press Release

[ Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 Back to School with Student Edition Bundle copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Jin Soo Kim, a Samsung industrial designer, was called to the stand today by Samsung at Apple and Samsung’s court battle and revealed this: the Galaxy Tab 10.1 project couldn’t have ripped off the iPad because the Tab 10.1 project began in October 2009 (while the iPad was announced on January 27, 2010). Kim even went as far to show off an e-mail dated three weeks before the iPad’s announcement that included a design very close to the Tab 10.1. More »